(Reuters) – NHS England has invited people aged 56 to 59 to book COVID-19 vaccines next week, with letters to 850,000 people in this age group landing at the gates from Saturday and others 850,000 due to his departure on Monday.
“The latest invitations have been sent after more than eight out of ten people aged 65 to 69 accepted the jab offer,” the National Health Service said in an email statement on Sunday.
“NHS staff have vaccinated more than 18 million people across England, meaning more than a third of the adult population has already received the life-saving puncture.”
The British medical regulator said on Thursday it would speed up vaccines for coronavirus variants, adding that manufacturers of already authorized traits would not need new lengthy clinical trials to show that adapted vaccines work.
It is concerned that some variants, such as those found for the first time in South Africa and Brazil, could reduce the effectiveness of the first generation of COVID-19 vaccines, and manufacturers are looking to adapt them.
The accelerated process is based on what is used each year for seasonal flu vaccines, according to the Agency for the Regulation of Medicines and Health Products (MHRA), and would be based on solid evidence that the shots create a immune response, rather than complete clinical trials.
AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., manufacturers of the three vaccines the MHRA has approved for use so far, have said they intend to modify their features to address this year’s variants.
So far, Britain has offered shots fired by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Reports from Kanishka Singh to Bengaluru; Edited by Christopher Cushing